POTATO ROT. 647 



seed and commence anew." In the mean time pursue the fol- 

 lowing course, to prevent the disease with the present seed. 

 " Let ground charcoal and sulphate of lime (gypsum or plaster 

 of Paris) be mixed in proportion of two to one of the former, 

 and applied according to the quality of the soil. On rich land, 

 put one quart in each hill at planting ; on light, sandy soil, one 

 half that quantity. Two or three weeks before the potatoes 

 ripen, prune them of half their branches, and throw a handful 

 of this compound on each hill. 



Honey, S., Lowell. Prevention. — About the time of plant- 

 ing, strew 120 pounds of salt on the acre. 



Horner, Andrew, Georgetown. Cause. — A bug depositing 

 poison in the blossom, which enters the sap and flows into the 

 potato, hence some stalks are affected sooner, some later, and 

 some not at all. Cure. — Crop the vines when full in blossom, 

 for as soon as the poisoned sap enters the potato, it inoculates, 

 and will cause rot sooner or later. 



IsLEY, A. B., Cambridgeport. Remedy. — Plant under the 

 manure between 20th and 25th of April. Between the middle 

 and last of July pull the vines out so as to leave the potatoes 

 in the hill. Dig between 20th and 30th of August. 



Kelly, James, Boston, proposes that government employ 

 him to try experiments. 



Kenrick, E. B., Cambridgeport, has satisfied his own mind 

 that the cause of the potato rot is an excess of positive electri- 

 city in the potato itself. The disease therefore may be pre- 

 vented by negative electricity, applied to the potato while 

 growing. The best and cheapest remedy is a manure, con- 

 taining a due proportion of black, meadow mud — not peat, nor 

 marsh, nor pond mud, nor salt meadow mud — which will grad- 

 ually and continually supply the potato with negative electricity 

 during the growing season. Allowing sixteen hills for a bushel 

 of potatoes, one heaped peck of mud is sufficient, but before it 



